I have always been proud to be associated with this brand, and now even more so. These surveys reflect Mercedes' unwavering efforts toward ever-increasing standards of excellence. Considering that Porsche sells a fraction the number of cars that Mercedes does, it could be construed that our ranking, if weighted for sales volume, is even higher.
June 17, 2010
Dear Colleagues,
I would like to share some great news with you: J.D. Power has just released its 2010 Initial
Quality Survey (IQS) in which Mercedes-Benz improved three ranking positions from 6th to 3rd,
reflecting our best ranking in twenty years. That’s a 14% improvement to 87 pph (problems per
one hundred) compared to 2009.
Among the brands; Only Porsche and Acura are ahead of us - for the first time ever - we beat
Lexus. BMW dropped from 15th to 16th and Audi was 20th and ended up at 12th.
Our volume models led the way: C-Class improved by 27 problems and is the highest ranked
vehicle in the Entry Premium Car segment. M-Class improved by 20 problems and our new EClass
Sedan and E- Coupe, right out of the gate ranked second in their respective segments and
had only 80 pph.
In addition, the Europe / Africa region received 2 plant awards: East London, South Africa
received the Platinum Award and Sindelfingen, Germany was awarded the Bronze Plant Quality
Award.
While this strong IQS performance can be attributed to DAG’s unwavering commitment to
designing and producing high quality vehicles, we all know how a customer’s experience with the
company, the dealership and the brand can shape their perception of the quality of the product.
It is clear that the pride and the passion that are so much a part of CustomerOne and all our
collective initiatives are playing an important role in what is happening here. On behalf of
Executive Management we would like to thank you for your contribution to this accomplishment.
That does not mean, however, that we have accomplished our goal. The score variance between
the very top brands in this survey and in several of the others is very small, and I firmly believe
that we have what it takes to get back to the very top. That’s why CustomerOne is critical to our
success in terms of harnessing, and leveraging, the power of each customer interaction and
every customer-facing initiative. We all want to see the day when all the surveys reflect the fact
that there is no experience better, more aspired to, and more envied than that of owning a
Mercedes-Benz.